A few days ago, I posted about bloggers
that got special boxes from the creators of Coraline,
an animated stop-motion fantasy film based on a novella by Neil Gaiman
(directed by Henry Selick, who also directed The Nightmare Before Christmas
and James and The Giant Peach). The Coraline boxes contain items from
the highly anticipated movie - dolls,
wigs,
suitcase,
etc. There are only 50 such boxes made and sent to bloggers, and each
is a one-of-a-kind handmade box.

Little did I know when I was writing the post that sitting just 5 feet
away from my desk was ... Neatorama's very own Coraline Box! (It's good
to be a blogger sometimes!)

Our Coraline box (No. 27) is gorgeous: a 7 x 6 X 4 inch wooden cigar
box that opens up to reveal nine "Chocolate Beetles From Zanzibar,"
a key, and a photo from the movie. On the side of the box is a wax-sealed
envelope with a letter from LAIKA
animation company in Oregon that created the movie.

Here are the pictures:

Coraline Box: "Handmade in Oregon 27/50"

Inside the box are 9 "Chocolate Beetles from Zanzibar"

The Chocolate Beetles - one is "crawling out" and one is um,
rather dead. These are wonderful handpainted pieces and each one is unique.

"[The Other Mother] carefully picked out a particularly large and
black beetle, pulled off its legs ... and popped the beetle into her mouth
... 'Yum,' she said, and took another. -- CHAPT. VI

Coraline.com is a fantastic website for the movie - go forth and visit
this instance!

There's a sealed letter attached on the side of the box. It's similar
to the one other bloggers got.

Thank you for the wonderful surprise, "The Other Mother" and
Coraline Team! (And thanks to my lovely wife Tiffany who took the neat
photos!). Coraline opens in theatres February 6th, 2009.